


before you leave (i have something to say)

by Inkblood13



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Declarations Of Love, Dialogue, F/F, Love Confessions, One Shot, Post-Season/Series 03
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-30
Updated: 2019-07-30
Packaged: 2020-07-27 07:29:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20042194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inkblood13/pseuds/Inkblood13
Summary: Eleven is about to leave Hawkins, and Max realizes this might be her last chance to tell her something that she’s kept hidden all summer.





	before you leave (i have something to say)

Max was standing outside of Eleven’s house. Well, it was really Will’s house, but Eleven had been staying there since the day they had lost Hopper. And Billy. Things were different now- changing more than they had all summer, Max could feel it. And that’s what gave her the courage to stand there and knock on the Byers’ front door.

She rapped her knuckles against the wood of the door, making the loud, sharp, thunk that would alert everyone inside to her presence. She bit her lip and took a sudden step back. This was a bad idea. She was too late. With El about to leave, all this would do was make the pain worse, and send their friendship into awkwardness.

But then the door opened, ending Max’s last opportunity to back out and pretend none of this had ever happened. She stared at Will, who had opened the door and was looking at her expectantly, waiting for her to say something. 

“I came to, uh, see El,” she told him, crossing her arms. 

He raised an eyebrow. “She’s in our room. Packing.” He pulled the door open farther and stepped aside so Max could enter. “Why do you look so secretive?”

Max snorted. “None of your business, Will.” His eyes darted away nervously. She sighed. “Sorry. Just... it’s something private.”

Max immediately realized that may have given him the wrong impression as his eyes widened and the look of hurt on his face disappeared. “Oh. Girl stuff. I don’t wanna know.”

Max rolled her eyes. At least he would stop prying now. “Yeah. Fine. I’m just gonna go see El now.”

Will nodded and shut the door behind them as she walked down the hall towards El and Will’s room. She stuffed her hands in her pockets as she reached the open doorway and peered inside. 

El didn’t notice her standing there- she was too busy folding clothes and stacking them as neatly as she could into the cardboard box beside her. Max noticed a couple of the outfits she had bought her at the mall were in the pile. 

She watched El for a minute, suddenly glad that she hadn’t yet been noticed. El was sitting cross legged on the floor, her brown curls flowing around her face messily as she squinted at the shirt in her hand, unfolding and refolding the same cloth over again as she struggled to make it as neat as possible. 

“Let me help you with that,” Max offered, gesturing towards the crumpled shirt. 

El jumped and her eyes flew up to Max, noticing her standing there for the first time. “Didn’t see you come in,” she mumbled. A spot of color flew to her cheeks as she looked down at the sad attempt at a fold in her hands. 

“I noticed.” Max smiled a little as she approached where El was sitting. She plopped down on the floor next to her and gently took the shirt from the other girl. 

“I’m not very good at laundry, or doing chores, or keeping my room clean-“ She stopped herself. “But I do know how to fold a shirt the best way, so you can cram as many clothes into the same spot as physically possible.”

El giggled slightly at that, and a bit of the tension weighing down Max’s shoulders disappeared. She started folding the shirt neatly, tucking the sleeves into the rectangle shape she had made so that they didn’t stick out loosely. 

“And then you gotta roll it up super tightly, like a burrito.” Max laid the folded shirt on the floor and rolled it up, using all the pressure in her hands to make it as tight and small as she could. When she finished, she picked it up and handed it to El, who had watched the whole process with silent interest. 

El took the shirt-roll up gently, grinning as she looked at it, and then at Max. “Just like a burrito,” she repeated. 

Max’s insides melted a tiny bit as she stared into El’s eyes, so dark in color but still somehow managing to glow brighter than the sun. 

Max supervised as El tried out the process on a couple more shirts and a flannel, both girls mostly quiet as they packed the clothes. Max realized with a pinch of sadness that with every shirt they put in the box, Eleven got closer to leaving. Which was why she couldn’t put this off any longer. 

“El,” she started, and the other girl turned to focus her attention on her, hearing the seriousness in her voice. “I-I came here to tell you something, but I don’t know how you’ll feel about it.”

Her dark eyes were washed over with concern. “What’s wrong Max? Did something happen?”

Max felt a swooping feeling in her stomach at the sound of her name on El’s lips, matched with the worry written on her face. “No, no it’s nothing like that. Nothing bad happened.”

El tilted her head. “Then what is it?”

Max took a deep breath. Her hands were suddenly clammy and she wondered how on earth she had thought this was a good idea. 

She looked away from the other girl, the girl who’s eyes and nose and smile made her heart beat out of her chest. The girl who was so oblivious to Max’s feelings, and in a relationship with a boy. 

“Well, I think that- no, I know that, uh...” she trailed off. She would give anything to fly off on her skateboard right now, away from this conversation and the impending heartbreak that was about to smash the little bit of courage she had had to build up just to get here. 

Max looked up to meet El’s eyes again. She was quiet, patient, waiting for Max to finish. “I like you!” She finally blurted it out, too loudly, her voice rising an octave higher than it should have. 

It was quiet for a second, and then El laughed. “Of course you like me! We’re best friends!”

Max shook her head and El stopped smiling. “No, I don’t like you like friends.” She hurried to explain as she saw the look of shock and hurt on El’s face. “I like you more than as a friend. I... love you, El. I’m in love with you.”

El blinked and her mouth gaped open slightly. Max rushed to continue when she realized El was at a loss for words. “It’s stupid. You’re in love with Mike, and we’re both girls, and you’re leaving Hawkins anyway, and-“

“-And I like you too,” El finished for her. 

“I know. Wait, what?” Max stared at the curly haired girl, dumbfounded. 

“I think I love you too. Like more than friends.” She smiled excitedly, and Max couldn’t help but smile too. 

“But-but what about Mike?”

El chewed her lip, pinning down the smile that had blossomed on her cheeks. “Mike was the first person I met when I got here,” she started carefully. “He cared about me. And that made me think I must care about him too.”

Max’s eyebrows creased. “Made you think... as in you don’t actually like him? I mean, like that?”

El shook her head slowly. “After the mall, when-when I dumped his ass-“ they both grinned, “-I felt different. Spending time with you made me happy. And I realized that there were other... other choices than being with Mike.”

“Other choices?”

“Yes. Choices,” she repeated. “At first, I didn’t know I could like- I could love girls like that. I could love girls like you like that.” Max’s breath caught at that. “And then Joyce said we were leaving, and I thought it would be better if I never said anything at all.”

Max sat there for a second, stunned. “This was supposed to be my confession, not yours.” They both giggled nervously. “But I’m so glad you said something.”

“Really?” El asked, relief flowing on her breath. 

“Yeah, I am.” Max nodded. She felt a bit like she was floating. “Because that means I can do this.” She leaned closer to El and her eyes fluttered shut as she pressed her lips against the other girl’s. She felt El gasp slightly against her. Max’s touch was gentle as her lips felt El’s, and then she pulled away slowly and opened her eyes again. 

“Was-was that okay?” Max asked in a small voice. El stared at her for a moment, and then broke into a smile. 

“More than okay!” she exclaimed. “More than friends!” And then she rocked forward and threw herself at Max. 

Max tried to catch her, but they both ended up crashing back on the floor, arms entangled around each other’s bodies. Max looked into Eleven’s eyes, so, so close to her own, and felt warmth spread through her chest and down all the way to her toes. 

And then El moved closer still and pushed her lips into Max’s. The kiss was messy, but they were so eager to feel and taste each other that they didn’t care. Max’s world fell into place and the sun shone in the sky as their tongues caressed inside their joining mouths. Heat and soft lips and gentle tongue and a little bit of clunking teeth and a lot of smiling. Everything was alright now. Everything was beautiful and perfect and Max’s heart wasn’t broken. It was full.


End file.
